Mind on Jesus

Our church picnic was yesterday. The weather was cool and windy. The races were fun to watch, as were the children racing around trying to catch the “candyman” with a pail of goodies and chocolate bars stuck to his coveralls. The food was cold and the bathroom a good five-minute walk from our site. Today’s Scripture was a chuckle:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1–2)

It was not difficult to set my mind on things above yesterday. I wanted to go home and read my Bible — or was that setting my mind on getting warmed up? Piper’s devotional says this about summer: “flight from (Jesus) into Christ-less leisure makes the soul parched. At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer and neglect the Word, but then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit.”

I didn’t want to flee Jesus and enjoy summer yesterday but a warning is good. Summer holds much that we miss in the dead of winter. I planted garden seeds last week and bedding plants, visited my next-door neighbor for two hours, and loafed more than usual. However, God has a way of reminding me of important things. One of our friends is having serious surgery today. His wife is worried sick. I’d prayed a bit, but when opening a search engine this morning, the photo on it was a place where these two had lived most of their early lives. God reminded me to pray fervently because our friend is in surgery right now.

Not only that, Piper reminds me that seeking things above means equating the delights of summer with the age to come. While God says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9) He wants me to focus on what I do know. We have perfections here, some days, yet not one “sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening” day of summer can compare with being with Jesus in a perfect environment with: 

“. . . .  the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1–5)

The short descriptions of that eternal place describe no more sorrow or tears. If our friend survives this surgery, he will be glad, yet if Jesus takes him home, his joy and delight cannot be described — only that one day we will be together in that indescribable place. In the meantime, we are to focus on the One who is there, and who takes care of all things here. Summer is a small glimpse, no doubt totally inadequate to show us our future hope. 

Even so, the tall trees, the thick undergrowth, blue sky and especially the camaraderie of our Christian family make it easier to think of the perfection that is promised. 

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for reminding me to pray for our friend and for many things that cry for Your attention in this world. It is not heaven here, nor heaven yet, but You do hear and answer prayer. You make thoughts of things above easier and far more important than taking a ‘time out’ from eternal matters. For that, I am grateful.  

The Lamb who is also a Lion

 

The first mention of a LAMB in the OT is when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. The boy didn’t know he was going to be put on the fire and said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” His father replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

He did and then commended Abraham’s faith and obedience, but the story is much bigger. The next part of it involves sacrificial lambs offered for sin and even though those offerings did not take away sins, they resulted in atonement and forgiveness.

These lambs were also sacrificed on other occasions such as Solomon’s ascension to the throne, Josiah’s renewal of the covenant, Ezra’s return from exile, and in Ezekiel’s eschatological visions of the temple. Lambs are also descriptive of God’s people.

In the NT, the term is used most notably for Jesus who became the ultimate sacrifice for sin:

John 1:29. The next day (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The Lamb story is near its climax! After Jesus died and rose again, the NT repeatedly declares that He is that Lamb . . .

1 Corinthians 5:7. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

1 Peter 1:17–19. And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Some references to Jesus as God’s Lamb use a paradoxical description of Him, such as Revelation 5:5–6 where Jesus is depicted as both a Lion and a very unusual Lamb: “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Revelation also describes the “wrath of the Lamb” and says, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” and how those who come out of great tribulation with robes washed “white in the blood of the Lamb.” He is called “the Lamb in the midst of the throne” who will be the Shepherd who will guide His people to “springs of living water” where God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This Lamb will also be at war with God’s enemies and He will conquer them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Then the marriage of the Lamb will be celebrated at a marriage supper as His bride (the church) has made herself ready.

Revelation 22:1–5. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I’ve written about the vulnerability of lambs and think of Jesus with that same gentleness yet with the amazing power described above. He is the conqueror. For some reason, perhaps my age, perhaps the confines caused by Covid, or perhaps just the need of my soul partly because another friend was lost this week in an accident, I need to keep my eyes on Him, this Lamb of God who is mighty, worthy of all worship and praise. Jesus is sovereign and has His hand on the trials of life. At the same time, He puts me in awe of His gentle power and the fact that this meek power is what He wants in me.